Your source for credible news Issue no 030
April, 2021
How Abel Kandiho together with RNC operatives Nuwamanya and Bonabaana extorted, and persecuted two Rwandan churchmen
NEWS
Salim Saleh recruits Samputu in anti-Rwanda scheme Page 2
NEWS
Rujugiro rejects heaalth warnings on his tobacco, but has full backing of Museveni Page 5
OP - ED
A bishop of the ADEPR church formerly based in Uganda Anastase Nyirimpeta, and one Reverend Pastor Antoine Twagirimana have recounted how they survived unspeakable horrors in the dungeons of Uganda’s Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI), where operatives of Kayumba Nyamwasa’s terrorist Rwanda National Congress (RNC) are part of the interrogators and torturers. The persecution of Rwandans living in Uganda is done Page 3 by CMI and RNC, it has long come to light. Get a free copy of our e-paper
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Uganda became a corruption-ridden family business long ago, a hard fact to hide Page 6
NEWS
Issue no 030 April 2021
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Salim Saleh recruits Samputu in anti-Rwanda scheme
Jean Paul Samputu.
By Alex Muhumuza Jean Paul Samputu, the Canada-based singer, has been under the mentorship of President Museveni’s younger brother Gen Salim Saleh and officials in Uganda’s security service, according to reliable sources. Under their guidance, Samputu has formed a political party that claims to speak for genocide survivors. The party’s brief agreed with Samputu’s Ugandan sponsors is to endeavour to mislead genocide survivors that the Rwanda government has been exploiting and mistreating them, the source says. Apparently, Saleh and his lieutenants have convinced Samputu that he is the Second-Coming of Kizito Mihigo and that he can use his name as a singer to mobilize against the Rwandan government. As Kizito’s supposed replacement, Samputu will be pushing Kizito’s narrative as well
as the baseless claims that he was killed by the government, when even his family has rebuked those who are trying to exploit his death for their political gains. In preparation of forming the party, Samputu has been frequenting Kampala for consultations with Museveni’s brother, and other top officials in the security services, including Gen Abel Kandiho, the source reveals. Among the founders of Samputu’s party are offspring of some of the most well-known genocide perpetrators and fugitives who are themselves notorious genocide deniers and trivializers. They include Rene Mugenzi, Denise Zaneza, Claude Gatebuke, and other genocide deniers who falsely claim to be survivors of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, though they speak ambiguously to leave open the likelihood they may be pushing the long-discred-
ited theory of a double genocide – itself an attempt to blur the reality of the actual genocide perpetrated against Rwanda’s Tutsi. Others working with Samputu have been appearing with him on Voice of America (VoA) and the BBC. Samputu has a long-standing relationship with the top authorities in Uganda that dates back to the late 1990s when the crisis between Uganda and Rwanda reached a boiling-point following the Kisangani clashes between the two countries. Among the people Museveni recruited to Uganda in his proxy war at the time was JP Samputu. Samputu lived in Kampala under Museveni’s upkeep, and the former would frequent Rwakitura. He spent close to four years there, during which he composed and sang a song he dedicated to Museveni in which he showers
him with praise. In return, Samputu benefited from exposure, winning obscure prizes in pre-arranged competitions where Museveni’s influence opened doors and was even promised a World Tour in 2004. After the two countries normalized relations and Museveni had no more immediate use for Samputu, the latter quietly returned to Rwanda claiming to have become a Born-Again Christian. He settled in Rwanda before moving on to Canada. With tensions between the two countries resuming anew, the authorities in Kampala remembered that he has a tool to use against Rwanda, reactivating Samputu in his new role of a political party founder. Given his previous miscalculations, it is evident Samputu has yet to realise his sponsors are misleading him to a dead end adventure.
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NEWS
Issue no 030 April 2021
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How Abel Kandiho together with RNC operatives Nuwamanya and Bonabaana extorted, and persecuted two Rwandan churchmen that refuse to work with us,” the duo told him, with chilling menace. In Nyirimpeta’s case they also tried to pressure him into surrendering control of his church to an RNC-CMI appointee. They wanted him to hand over title deeds, certificates of registration and other key documents to those who had agreed to work with RNC (and CMI). Early in November 2020, while Nyirimpeta was away from home on a church mission, he was informed that men in military uniform had raided his home. He traveled back and headed to a neighboring police station to record a statement.
Maj. Nelson Kyatuka of Uganda’s Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence, CMI. He’s behind several incidents of harassment, physical abuse, and dispossession of Rwandan nationals in Uganda.
By Jean Gatera A bishop of the ADEPR church formerly based in Uganda Anastase Nyirimpeta, and one Reverend Pastor Antoine Twagirimana have recounted how they survived unspeakable horrors in the dungeons of Uganda’s Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI), where operatives of Kayumba Nyamwasa’s terrorist Rwanda National Congress (RNC) are part of the interrogators and torturers. The persecution of Rwandans living in Uganda is done by CMI and RNC, it has long come to light. The two churchmen, Nyirimpeta and Twagirimana – who were among the eight recently dumped Rwandans – have narrated how RNC’s Kampala-based senior agents Sulah Nuwamanya Wakabirigi and Prossy Bonabaana personally blackmailed them to extort them for a percentage of church contributions. Nuwamanya and Bonabaana harassment and intimidation of the two ended up with Nyirimpeta and Twagirimana getting abducted and taken to CMI’s Mbuya dungeons where they were subjected to torture.
Nuwamanya and Bonabaana have been behind the harassment and arrests of several Rwandans in Uganda. When Nyirimpeta, some years ago, opened ADEPR Church in Uganda he grew it to over 160 branches. Soon he was added on the list of Uganda-based Rwandans that RNC put on watch. Such a hostile environment for Rwandans had come about after the Museveni government, through its intelligence and other security services, began working with Nyamwasa’s RNC as its main proxy group in the Ugandan ruler’s plot to destabilize Rwanda. As part of RNC’s operations (in which it is facilitated a hundred percent by CMI), they have been looking to recruit Rwandans either as fighters for RNC, or as contributors of funds. They have been abducting Rwandans either traveling to Uganda, or those already resident there. One way is to forcefully try to coerce abductees into joining RNC. Thus many Rwandans have been languishing in dungeons of Ugandan security agencies, suffering from effects of
torture. Others, like the two pastors, are approached to “voluntarily” become RNC members and contributors “in order to be allowed to work peacefully.” Many Rwandans refuse to betray their country. They would rather lose everything. Consequently, they too suffer horrendous physical abuse. That is what happened to the two churchmen. Last year Nuwamanya and Bonabaana twice called Nyirimpeta for a meeting in town, demanding partnership in his churches. The same happened to Twagirimana, who had been appointed to head ADEPR Uganda. The RNC agents demanded ten percent of church offerings, “and the creation of a youth wing” to serve as a recruitment front. They also demanded that the Rwandans hand over their passports and register as “political refugees.” Twagirimana says he refused. What followed, he says, was a direct threat. “In this country, you will see what happens to those
He was shocked to be handcuffed, blindfolded and driven to CMI headquarters at Mbuya. On arrival he faced interrogation, and then was locked in a stinky toilet. The interrogation was mixed up with demands to hand over his church documents, with ominous questions like “where are your guns?” He had never held guns in his life. This, he could see, was the first step of concocting charges against them. The next day, they drove Nyirimpeta back to his house for an extensive search, and when they failed to find anything, he was taken back to CMI. This time, torture was on the menu. “They beat me to unconsciousness and I woke up in a hospital,” he narrates. In January, this year, it was Twagirimana’s turn. He had travelled for a mission when men in military attire raided his home. In his case, they took his son hostage and informed him through their contacts that he needed to pay a ransom of Ugx 4 Million. Initially he raised three million, which he paid using mobile money services. They told him to drop the remaining one million at a certain petrol station. As he was taking the money,
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NEWS
Issue no 030 April 2021
>> From page 3 Sulah Nuwamanya showed up in person at the drop off location, with CMI officers. After they had relieved him of his money, they abducted Pastor Twagirimana, handcuffed and blindfolded him, and drove with him to Mbuya. Upon arrival, he says, Nuwamanya took him directly to Kandiho’s office and was ordered to seat on the floor. Initially, Twagirimana says, Kandiho interrogated him in English but later switched to Kinyarwanda. “You are a spy of Kagame!” the CMI head charged, an accusation that the pastor refuted. The Pastor explained that he was not in any way a “spy” and asked: “If I had come to spy, would I really bring my entire family along?” They instead sent him to record
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a statement, and transferred him to Kireka to endure daily beatings.
to contribute to RNC through Bonabaana and set up an RNC youth wing for the church.
has made his choice!” The CMI chief then added in Runyankore, “he is a dead man walking!”
Meantime, Bishop Nyirimpeta was escorted to face what can only be described as a joint review panel of RNC-CMI comprised of Gen Kandiho, Bonabaana, and Nuwamanya. Prior to his interrogation, Bonabaana introduced herself as “the person in charge of assisting Rwandans in distress.” She told Nyirimpeta that her organization had tried to approach him several times but that he had refused. “Why don’t you contribute 10 percent and set up a youth wing?” she asked him.
Nyirimpeta refused and insisted that he was just a man of God with no interest in politics. “What would I tell the parents of these kids?” In Kinyarwanda, Kandiho accused him too of “spying for Kagame.” Kandiho claimed the churchman “was bankrolled by Kigali.”
Nyirimpeta was sent back to the dungeons, for severe beatings.
The “panel” offered him “a way out.” They told him that all he had to do was hand over church documents to the person they chose — who was also present—
“Why are you always traveling to Rwanda? How can you afford it? Why do you visit the Rwanda embassy?” Kandiho fired questions at Nyirimpeta that made no sense to him. The Bishop explained that he was a Rwandan citizen, and that traveling to Rwanda and visiting his embassy were not crimes. Kandiho then addressed “the panel”: “this man
As both ADPER Pastors, in their fifties, became weaker and news of their kidnapping and ill-health leaked, CMI organized one more crime – an illegal dumping at the border. This was after months of illegal detention, without any access granted to lawyers, family members, consular or medical visits. Nyirimpeta was in such a poor state he couldn’t walk. They are just glad to be still alive. When will this stop?
Rwandan man assaulted in Uganda, dumped at the border wanda in line with the Kampala regime’s hostile policy against Rwanda. Victims have suffered arbitrary arrests, illegal incarcerations, and torture without charges.
By Patience Kirabo Rwandan national Emmanuel Ndungutse, 22, was atrociously assaulted by Uganda People’s Defense Force (UPDF) soldiers and dumped at the Rwandan border yesterday. Ndungutse, like many victims of Ugandan security forces’ harassment and persecution of Rwandan nationals, suffered abuse simply because of his nationality. UPDF soldiers in Kabale District arbitrarily arrested him while he went about his business. Ndungutse was severely assaulted and gravely injured, with broken ribs, injured back, arm, and legs. The uniformed men tortured him, beating him with wire cables because he failed to pay them a bribe of 200,000 (Ugandan) shillings to secure his release. After the assault Ndungutse was in a terrible state, unable to move or respond. The soldiers decided to get rid of him for fear that he would die in their custody. He was bundled onto a truck, unconscious, and brought to the border crossing where they dumped him at around 6 pm. Rwandan authorities at the border picked Ndungutse and immediately took him for emergency medical care. He is
Kabale and Kisoro prisons have been home to innocent Rwandans on concocted charges of “illegal stay” and “entry” in Uganda. The young man is the latest UPDF assault victim after one David Rukundo who had gone to Kenya for a business study leave and decided to transit through Uganda on his way back when UPDF soldiers decided to arrest him without a single crime committed. He was detained while the soldiers tried to extort money from him, a bribe for his freedom. He was then brutally beaten (because he couldn’t pay the bribe) and handed over to Uganda’s Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence at Mbuya Military Barracks in Kampala. He suffered abuse on concocted allegations of “illegal stay” in Uganda. currently admitted at Bungwe Health Center in critical condition. Ndungutse suffered the same fate as that of many Rwandans living in Kabale and Kisoro
districts – areas that are commonly known for the victimization of Rwandan nationals or Ugandans with Rwandan origins. Security operations have been launched to hunt down Banyar-
The Ugandan government’s security operatives continue to persecute Rwandan nationals with no end in sight.
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NEWS
Issue no 030 April 2021
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Rujugiro rejects heaalth warnings on his tobacco, but has full backing of Museveni By Jean Gatera Tribert Ayabatwa Rujugiro who has a tobacco factory in Uganda – in which, reliable sources say, the country’s ruling family has shares – is also well known as the chief financier of the terrorist organization Rwanda National Congress (RNC). Given his close connections to President Museveni and his younger brother Gen. Salim Saleh, sources comment, it is not surprising that Rujugiro is openly flaunting laws by declining to label his cigarettes as dangerous to health in accordince to international practices. Rujugiro’s tobacco company, Leaf Tobacco Commodities (LTC), has refused to apply health-warning graphics on their cigarette packets. The requirement is both a national and an international requirement. When
he established his company in Uganda some years back, Rujugiro made Gen. Saleh his business partner, giving him a 15 percent stake, according to Ugandan company registration records. Article 11 of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), of which Uganda is a signatory, says: “Parties to the Convention are to implement large, rotating health warnings on all tobacco product packaging and labeling”. Rujugiro’s refusal to play by the rules and conform to regulations is a clear business malpractice that gives him undue advantages to other competitors and jeopardizes Uganda’s reputation in implementing international treaties. “He has so much political clout that even government
RNC chief financier Tribert Ayabatwa Rujugiro
officials were unable to offer a clear comment on the issue,” observed a business analyst who sought anonymity fearing reprisals from Rujugiro. Dr. Hafsa Lukwata of the Ministry of Health revealed that TLC had boldly refused to comply by the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS). Lukwata essentially was admitting that Rujugiro was too powerful for any Uganda government entity to enforce the law against him. “Of course for Museveni the interests of the chief financier of a terrorist group that’s his main proxy in plans to destabilize Rwanda are far more important than the health, or the laws of Uganda!” said a Kampala-based security.
Ugandan president Museveni. His government has granted RNC chief financier Tribert Rujugiro impunity to sell his cigarettes in Uganda with no health warnings.
Strangely, in March 2019, President Museveni published a letter in the state newspaper, The New Vision, defending Rujugiro as an ordinary businessman. About a year ago, Rujugiro donated Ushs 250 million to a covid-19 fundraising organized by President Museveni, money that ended up in the pockets of the president’s
family members. “He has so much political clout that even government officials are unable to offer a clear comment on the issue,” observed a business analyst who sought anonymity fearing reprisals from Rujugiro. The analyst expounded that in Uganda, when one has a business partner like Gen. Saleh (who actually is in charge of his elder brother’s corrupt business interests), normal rules and regulations do not apply. Even reporting on the matter is dangerous! Labeling cigarettes packages with visible warning messages is largely done to inform potential new smokers of the grave health risk associated with smoking. According to our sources, with no such warnings on Rujugiro’s cigarettes his company reaps big. Rujugiro and his partners, the rulers of Uganda are taking advantage of the absence of rule of law in the country, without a care how that jeopardizes the health of millions.
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OP-ED
Issue no 030 April 2021
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Uganda became a corruption-ridden family business long ago, a hard fact to hide ed his sister, Violet Kajubiri-Floelich as deputy chairperson of the Education Service Commission (ESC) – a government authority charged with recruiting teachers in the country. “Just another incident to demonstrate how corrupt the Museveni clan is,” observers remark.
By Melodie Mukansonera It is common for Tibuhaburwa’s propaganda goons to try to paint Rwanda with what they are used to in Uganda: a place where all top businesses and top posts in government and security apparatus are headed by Museveni’s family as this article rightly titled “how a country named Uganda became Museveni family incorporated,” puts it. Uganda’s first lady for instance has been hopping in several Ministries as a Minister despite the country having millions of capable people. In 2009, the East African published a story that had an interesting intro: out goes the brother, in comes the wife. Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has set the record as the first president in Africa to appoint his wife to the Cabinet. By appointing Janet Kataha as the Minister for Karamoja Affairs and then Minister of Education, Museveni proved to the world that he had made government a family affair. It doesn’t stop at that – far from it! The Ugandan president has been fast-tracking his son Muhoozi Kainerugaba to the top of the military brass. The world was treated to the spectacle of Kainerugaba’s mother taking over charge of one ministry after another while Museveni was rapidly promoting the son from one rank to another. Suddenly Muhoozi Kainerugaba was at the top, as a major general, and “Senior Presidential Advisor for Special Operations.” As if that was not enough, just last year, Museveni went a step farther to re-appoint his only son as a commander of the elite forces – a post he once held. This puzzled the entire world, attracting the scorn of the international media. But there were many more nepotistic scandals from the house of Museveni. The Ugandan ruler’s brother Salim Saleh is never far away in the running of state affairs. There he perpetrates one monumental corruption scandal after another. In fact the Africa Confidential website has a section of 61 pages about Salim
Also, according to insiders, “the Chief of Defense Forces (CDF), Gen David Muhoozi is a first Cousin to Janet Kataha – all from the Omuyombo clan. One of Museveni’s sons in law, Edwin Karugire is his personal lawyer, and one can’t rule out the fact he is the de-facto Attorney General, according to the evidence of his powers. Karugire is a partner at K&K advocates, a firm that represents Museveni. He too has been embroiled in several wrangles including land grabbing. Saleh’s influence in power brokering and how he owns and commands several top businesses is in Uganda. Some analysists have gone further to point out that Gen. Salim Saleh is the de-facto “co-president” of Uganda. “Saleh is the coordinator of the Operation Wealth Creation (OWC) programme, the same programme – most often described as “a scam” by those in the know – receives over Ugx 300 billion from the national
coffers, annually. Basically public funds move from BoU to Museveni’s family. There is no accountability for this money. Much of it, if not all, disappears in the bank accounts of Museveni and Saleh. The latter, who in fact merely is a front running the business interests of Museveni (meaning all the corruption scandals) has shares in over 400 factories. Something more damning that might have skipped the eye of many is when Museveni appoint-
Sam Kutesa is Uganda’s longest-serving Foreign Affairs Minister and in most parts of East Africa, he features as the wealthiest Ugandan in the 21st century. He owns arcades, apartments, malls, and ENHAS Cargo Company, which has the monopoly on handling cargo at Entebbe Airport. Kutesa was married to a cousin to Museveni’s wife, the late Jennifer Nankunda, and is the Father in law to Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba who is married to Charlotte. Remember Kutesa of recent just appointed his daughter Ishta Asiimwe the first-ever envoy of Israel to Uganda, and Museveni gave his nod of approval. They try to imagine this mess takes place in Rwanda, a country of laws that is run on individual merit where you cannot find the president’s relatives in top positions or anywhere of influence. In fact, few even know them simply because they are not out there arrogantly beating people in bars like Museveni’s do. They go about their private life silently with the same rights as any ordinary Rwandan. Tibuhaburwa should warn his goons against writing on issues that will end up embarrassing him.
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